Since the spring staff and our architects have been working to develop appropriate plans for the renovations of the Paul D. Schreiber Auditorium, the Carrie Palmer Weber Auditorium, science rooms in both buildings and turf fields at the high school. The high school science room plans were sent to the New York State Education Department Office of Facilities Planning in August, the middle school science room plans were sent on September 11. During the month of October, we anticipate the auditorium plans both for the high school and middle school to be sent to Albany. During the week of September 14th, the architect met with appropriate building administrators to review plans for the girls’ and boys’ physical education locker room spaces and the team locker room spaces at Weber. We also met with high school staff relative to the boys’ locker room. This was a preliminary meeting and at our subsequent meeting we will review and ascertain whether all key points have been addressed.

We have also had meetings relative to the replacement of existing fields with turf at the high school. The Budget & Facilities Committee is meeting with a vendor on Tuesday, September 22nd to understand what some of the infill options will be for these fields. There will be a subsequent vendor presentation October 5 and public Board of Education Meeting on October 6th at which time our architect will present options for the Board of Education’s consideration.

Window replacement and repairs at the high school are in the process of being evaluated to determine the total number of windows involved.

There is a small section of the Manorhaven school roof which was not renovated back in 2006 because it was still under warrantee. At this time, BBS is preparing plans for that section of the roof in the hope that this will be a project that the New York State Education Department can review quickly.

Unfortunately, the New York State Education Department website has increased the overall timeframe from 36 weeks to a present lead time of 40 to 42 for review of architectural plans that contain any mechanical or electrical work which could jeopardize our ability to bid anything other than field work or smaller roof/window projects (“single trade”) for the summer of 2016. We are, monitoring this situation closely.

The district intends to hire a construction management firm in Spring 2016 and will issue an RFP.

On Tuesday, September 22, the district will host a community meeting to discuss options for the infill to be used for the synthetic turf field that was approved as part of the bond referendum last March. The meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the Daly Administrative Annex, located on Avenue C. All residents are invited to attend. A representative from LandTek Group, a company that routinely installs turf fields, will be on hand to discuss the various options available to the district.